New York, N.Y- On a snowy day in New York City, the Wildcats competed and completed day one of the Armory Track Invitational in the historic indoor facility.
Sage Watson began her indoor season and ran the 500-meter invitational. Watson placed first and made a statement by crossing the finish line with a time of 1:10.52 which is currently the top collegiate mark in the nation.The mark also broke an Arizona indoor record held previously by Ruth Waithera-Nganga at 1:11.15 in 1984.
“We had a good 500 today. I was lucky to have Georganne, my training partner, there to pull me through. It wasn't quite the time I wanted to get.” Watson said. “I was aiming for 1:09, but it is my first ever 500 so I wanted to just go out there and trust Coach Harvey. I am excited to know that is Arizona's fastest time, I feel honored to have done that.”
Alumni Georganne Moline also ran the 500-meter backed by Nike and posted a tremendous time of 1:09.44 which is currently the top mark in the country and was just short of the American record held by Jearle Miles-Clark who holds the record at 1:08.71.
“The 500s were definitely the highlight of the competition with Georganne running the fastest time by any American in the country and Sage breaking our school record, which was the top collegiate mark in the country.” Coach Harvey said. “That is even more exciting because this was her opening race. She had been training hard working up to this race.”
Miles Parish ran the men's 500-meter race and placed fourth with a time of 1:03.85
Traci Hicks personal record in the 60-meter hurdles before today was 8.45 seconds at the MPSF Championships in 2013. Today Hicks ran the 60-meter hurdles and clocked in with a personal record 8.44 seconds in the preliminaries. This time was good enough to qualify her for the semifinals. In the semifinals Traci Hicks again knocked one-hundredth of a second off her personal record to 8.43 seconds.
Blake Eichler came in fifth place in the men's 400-meter race by posting a time of 48.36.
Lisanne Hagens came in seventh place in the high jump by posting a mark of 5 feet and 8.75 inches (1.75m).
Alyssa Thompson placed seventh in the women's long jump with a mark of 19 feet and 0.75 inches (5.81m).
Bailey Roth competed in the 3,000-meter race and set a personal record with a time of 8:13.72.
In the 400-meter race Arizona had a handful of athletes compete. For the women Tatum Waggoner clocked in at 55.12 seconds, Gia Trevisan posted a time of 55.82 seconds, Jasper Gray clocked in at 56.02 seconds, and Morgan Struble finished with a time of 56.07 seconds.
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Arizona Track & Field by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/ArizonaTrack), Twitter (@ArizonaTrack), Instagram (arizonatrack) and YouTube (Youtube.com/arizonawildcatstrack) accounts.
